


Marks, scars and other family jewels

by Lazy_Sunsets



Series: Our Rotten Ways [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Character Study (kinda), Don't Expect much from me, Introspection, It's really short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28857540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazy_Sunsets/pseuds/Lazy_Sunsets
Summary: Stuck on a ship Tyrian Callows is not exactly a super pleasant way to travel, it absolutely sucks and now, pretty much alone, Mercury has the chance to think about himself and why he does the things he does.OrOne moment when Mercury notices the abuse
Series: Our Rotten Ways [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2116170
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Marks, scars and other family jewels

Mercury never thought of himself as someone specially complex, he wasn’t like Emerald, who had so many layers of trauma one could die of old age before unpacking everything. He wasn’t like Cinder, whose desires and needs were clear as crystal, but made a point to act like she was the biggest mystery of Remnant.  No, Mercury was rather simple, actually. If you asked the boy he would say “assassin, soldier, fighter” and all the other impersonal definitions he so carefully chose during the years…

And they were not lies, not at all, his father made sure that Mercury would be the perfect assassin, the best soldier, the most competent fighter and maybe that was the root of it.

His creation, his training and his life until that night had always been about compliance and pain. Pain caused to others, pain caused by others, pain caused to himself by himself or to him by his father.

That raised questions, unfortunately: in the end, when all was said and done, was he someone worth remembering? More than that, was he someone at all? Or just the way his father found to live forever? Was that why that asshole took his semblance? So that there was no significant difference between the two? And did that conclusion change anything? Was he to be just another murderer or fight back?

Maybe that was the reason why Mercury was now flying with the freakiest of freaks, aka Tyrian, straight to Vacuo. Maybe that was why he still called her Em, even though every second of his training told him not to. Calling her that was the confession of a bond and that’s not something assassins have.

If Merc were to be honest, which is not something he frequently was, then it was obvious how every part of his personality was molded by his father in one way or another. And that also told him why the happiest moment of his life was that night when he stood above Marcus’ body with legs mutilated beyond any repair. That told him why he complied with Salem’s order.

He was so obviously abused into becoming this murder machine he was now and that’s why he felt the happiest when given a target, a thing to kill. Because that’s all he has ever known and probably all he would ever know.

And it was not destiny, fate or some superior design that brought him to this ship or to that whale, it was compliance, indoctrination and just pure serendipity. There was only one thing that boy was taught how to do and now that was all he  _ could _ do.

But, strangely enough, Mercury Black still thought he was exactly where he was supposed to be.


End file.
